SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Striving for Inclusive Excellence and Creating Sustainable Change

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The document describes an initiative at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School to increase diversity in graduate medical education and create more equitable, sustainable recruitment practices. It begins from the premise that recruiting health care professionals with lived experiences similar to their patients improves care, especially for marginalized groups, and can reduce bias among colleagues. The authors emphasize that systemic racism has contributed to underrepresentation in medicine, making intentional recruitment efforts essential.<br /><br />Using the McKinsey 7-S change model, the institution implemented a multifaceted strategy focused on “excellent patient care” and organizational alignment. Key actions included leadership review of recruitment outcomes, standardizing recruitment processes, updating websites and videos, creating a Diversity, Inclusion, and Advocacy (DIA) Council and director role, expanding outreach to Historically Black Colleges and national organizations such as SNMA and LMSA, and hosting virtual open houses and community-building events. Additional efforts included mentorship, community service, unconscious bias training for interviewers, holistic review of applicants, and DEI preparation for interviewers.<br /><br />Over three years of consistent implementation, these efforts led to a 247% increase in underrepresented in medicine (URIM) trainees, with the program consistently matching 23% URIM residents annually. The authors present this as evidence that a structured, institution-wide approach can significantly and sustainably improve URIM trainee recruitment even at a hospital with limited URIM faculty representation.<br /><br />The future direction is to extend this model to URIM faculty recruitment and strengthen leadership-supported sponsorship and mentorship programs.

Asset Subtitle

Ria Roberts

Meta Tag

Author List Carrie Tibbles, Daniele Olveczky, Emmanuel Mensah, Pablo Quintero, Ria Roberts

Category Innovations

Concept Healthcare Professionals

Concept URIM Trainee

Concept Lived Experience

Concept Bias

Concept Equity

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center-Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital

Presenting Author Ria Roberts

Track Education

Keywords

diversity in medical education

underrepresented in medicine

graduate medical education

recruitment practices

systemic racism

McKinsey 7-S model

holistic review

unconscious bias training

Diversity Inclusion and Advocacy Council

URIM trainee recruitment

Healthcare Professionals

URIM Trainee

Lived Experience

Bias

Equity